Disk type recording devices, whether magnetic, magneto resistive or optical types, are high precision devices requiring the precise location and support of parts which interact in the positioning of a transducer head for recording or reading purposes. The recording devices are fabricated in a clean environment or cleaned prior to assembly in a clean environment and require a clean environment in which to function.
Disk type recording devices, such as disk memory drives, comprise at least one disk on which servo code and/or digital data is recorded in concentric or spiral tracks. At least one transducer mounted on a movable actuator is moved to a selected radial position to access selected data, which in a disk memory drive is usually at the request of a host computer.
The recorded tracks are bounded by tracks at inner and outer radial positions on the disk surface. Actuator movement is limited by limit stops or crash stops, which limit transducer displacement to inner and outer radial positions, at least radially inwardly and radially outwardly of the radial positions of those inner and outer tracks on which data is recorded. The function of these crash stops is to absorb the impact energy of the actuator thereagainst and to stop the actuator in the shortest possible distance without exceeding the acceleration force limits of the transducers and the transducer supports in the designed operational environment.
The crash stops in the two limits of actuator displacement may be the same or different, depending in part upon whether the actuator deceleration requirements are the same or different. In all disk drives presently known to the applicants, during assembly, after mounting of the disk or disks upon a base or support, the actuator with a transducer or transducers attached is movably mounted upon the base or support with the actuator and the transducers clear of the disks. With the transducers held in positions displaced from disk surfaces which they scan, the actuator is moved to load the transducers on the disks. The inboard or inner radial crash stop may be in place when the actuator is installed. The actuator is moved to position the transducers over the disk surfaces, whereat each of the transducers are released to engage the adjacent surface of a disk in an area between the outer data track and the disk spindle. Thereafter, the outer radial crash stop is installed. Such installation of the outer radial crash stop after transducer loading now requires handling of the partially assembled recording device, risking damage to its delicate parts.